They're here! The 2018 winSPWW2 and winSPMBT upgrade patches are now available for download! We are bringing a storm of brand new content, revisions, and bug fixes that will leave you militarily motivated. Some enhancements are only available to Enhanced users. These exciting Upgrades (winSPMBT to v.12.0 and winSPWW2 to v.11.0) bring a powerful punch to tactical wargaming on your PC!

Before we go any further, it's time for a few announcements. DO NOT apply the upgrade patches while in the midst of a secure PBEM game as the game will fail. The 2018 patch for winSPWW2 will upgrade v. 9.0 or above to v. 11.0 and the 2018 winSPMBT patch will upgrade v. 10.0 and up to v.12.0. Got it?

As you have come to expect, both patches add plenty of additional content to the games. So, take a look at some of what Camo Workshop has added...

As you can see, there is a heckuva a lot of content just by the numbers, but now let us explore just some of the specific changes.

Secure PBEM is once again Secure. This loophole in the security code is now closed.

In the Purchase Screen, Anti Tank Guns, Field Guns and Mortars that are combined with transport units will now ONLY show the vehicles capable of transporting the gun selected so in a formation that might have a wide range of gun/mortar choices coupled with a wide range of towing vehicles to choose from players can now be confident that the combination of gun and towing vehicles they choose will indeed tow the gun selected.

Under some circumstances there were guns that would not fire AP rounds at targets that required AP rounds but use HE instead. That tangled bit of code has been sorted out and the problem eliminated.

Maps may now have TXT files associated with them so map makers can now explain and "sign" their work. These text files can be manually added to the Maps folder named the same way as the map except with the ".txt" extension.

The blast radius circle now displays as two pixels wide making it easier to see on some terrain combinations.

Fires from burning wrecks NO LONGER always obscures vision through the hex. A random variable has been added to smoke from wrecked vehicles that will sometimes allow LOS vision through that hex so unlike in the past, being behind a burning wreck no longer guarantees you are out of LOS. It also means that you can no longer be safe from return fire from units that had been following the tank you just knocked out.

In game drop shadow around units has been increased. We have gone from what might be described as an "Early Afternoon Shadow" to a "Late Afternoon shadow ".

Both game guides and MoBHack Helps have had many updated screen graphics added.

For Extended CD owners only) In the main game screen and deployment screens, pressing the middle mouse button will centre the map on the currently selected unit and also simultaneously highlight all of the visible hexes from it.

For Extended CD owners only) The extended map editor now allows you to strip all terrain from the map , leaving only the contours with one press of a button. This does a bit more than flood filling the map with base terrain that followed contours did.

For Extended CD owners only) The mini map can now be expanded to show the entire map by right clicking on it with the mouse if the map is larger than 100 hexes wide and 80 hexes high so it can now be expanded to show an entire large map up to 160 hexes wide and 200 hexes high.

When making bombing runs aircraft Icons will now appear to be above the smoke generated by bombing and not appearing to fly through or under it.

And there's lots more! You can check out the complete list of changes (and the graphic examples) by visiting the respective forums:

Both winSPWW2 and winSPMBT are available as fully featured FREE downloads or Enhanced Editions (CD or Download). The Enhanced Editions are not different in the core gameplay, but provide a lot of extra bells and whistles for the Steel Panthers connoisseur. Both games work with even the latest version of Windows.

That would be " a good thing" as for too long there hasn't been a way to say anything about them beyond the title.( and no way for the designer to sign the work beyond the lower right hand corner of the map...which isn't always practical)

The basic guidelines are simple as we noted in the patch write up but just remember to not use any accented letters. In pre-windows versions that could crash the game. Now what it will do is either add in gibberish letters or not display that part of the text at all. I will be adding a simple guidelines post to both games Campaigns, Scenarios & Maps subforums